Two-fold rise in ice-related admissions

Sarah WiedersehnAAP

March 15, 2018 12:06AM

The burden of ice addiction is spreading through entire hospitals, not just the emergency wards, as more users seek treatment for drug-induced psychosis and other health problems, new research suggests.

Analysis of patient data from Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital has identified an alarming three-fold increase in the number of hospital-based psychiatric consultations resulting from the use of psychostimulants (ice, cocaine and ecstasy) between 2012 and 2015, while there was a two-fold increase in admissions related to the use of these drugs.

Published in the Sax Institute's journal Public Health Research & Practice, the analysis found consultations resulting from psychostimulants rose from 96 in 2012 to 321 in 2015, and admissions from 60 in 2012 to 141 in 2015.

Senior author of the paper Professor Paul Haber believes this is a trend likely to be seen at other hospitals offering similar services right across Australia.

"The impact of ice is spreading throughout the hospital system, we have an increasing burden on mental health units inside the hospital and in the general wards of the hospital," Professor Haber said.

"These are people who attend the hospital with physical and mental health problems related to the use of ice or methamphetamines more generally," he said.

It's not known what is driving the rise in admissions, however the increasing strength and purity of ice - which has risen from an average of 17 per cent to 62 per cent purity by 2014 - is likely to be a factor, the authors suggest.

Prof Haber said there was an urgent need to improve already "stretched" services for patients addicted to psychostimulants because they present with different issues unlike those seeking treatment for alcohol or opiate-related issues.

"They can be agitated, aggressive, confused and psychotic, so they are having delusions and hallucinations. They can perhaps be more difficult to contain," Prof Haber said.

"We would like to see increased capacity and more general monitoring of the situation."